Obituary of Margaret McDonough

A Few Words on the Life of Margaret Mary McDonough

The poem in the previous blog post was written by my friend kp, who was one of Margaret McDonough's closest friends. There has been no official obituary for Margaret, but I'm going to try to piece together what I know about her life.

Margaret was from Bay City, Michigan, born around the time I was born, May 2nd, 1948. Margaret died in Cincinnati on March 21, 2022, a week ago. After a 6 week stay in the hospital, she was discharged to the skilled nursing unit at her retirement community.  Four days later she died peacefully.  Her brother Jack was with her when she died.  During the 6 weeks of hospitalization she had a team of friends, Debbie Boerschig, Sue Brungs, Charlene Riva, Liv Henson, and kp, advocating and caring for her as much as was permitted. Margaret was deeply loved, which was made perfectly clear during her final illness.

For a while I lived near Margaret, maybe a quarter mile away (for a time I was on Orchard Street and then on Lang Street in Over-the-Rhine, Cincinnati). Margaret lived on Boal Street near the Young Street steps, just up the street from my friends Henry Scott and Dan Bromley (they were at 324 Boal). She had many friends on Orchard Street and knew the folks in the Mansfield House Commune. We had many friends in common. I'm sure we were in the same place at the same time, but I don't remember meeting her.

Margaret attended the College of Mount Saint Joseph, like kp and Mary Jane Atkinson. Her resumé is a little crazy, like so many of my friends. She started her teaching career on the Lakota Sioux Reservation in Saint Francis, South Dakota, and later returning to Cincinnati she taught 4th and 5th grade at St. Henry’s in Northern Kentucky. After several years of teaching, she decided to change her career path. She took classes in horticulture and worked for 17 years at Frank's Nurseries, becoming their first female store manager. In 1990, Margaret joined the UK Royal Horticulture Society and specialized in growing flowering sweetpeas, resurrecting a flower that had been popular in Cincinnati before World War II. From then until retirement, Margaret was a familiar face at Court St. and Findlay Markets, eventually selling rare plants and other flowers as well as her sweetpeas. For a decade or more Margaret volunteered as a reading instructor for adult learners.

For a while Margaret lived near the Fernald Nuclear Plant--a place with a disguised name (Fernald Feed Materials Production Center) and a secret source of vast and dangerous radioactive pollution (it released millions of pounds of radioactive uranium dust into the air). Could this have been a contributing factor in Margaret's death?

Toward the end of her life, Margaret moved to a cottage connected to Twin Towers Senior Living Community in Cincinnati. She was greatly loved by her neighbors in this community.
In a Facebook post, an old friend of Margaret mentioned some of the things she fought for throughout her life: Native Americans, Women in Business, Hispanic Immigrants, Children, and Community Gardens. And in the end, a heroic fight for her own life.

Margaret is being laid to rest at the same time as her 98-year-old mother, Lorraine McDonough, at the St. Patrick's Catholic Cemetery in Bay City, Michigan. Mrs. McDonough died a couple weeks before Margaret's passing.

The Irish would say: "Margaret's likes will not be seen again." And "Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam dílis," May her sweet soul be at God's right hand.

Keep Margaret, Lord, like the apple of your eye. Shelter her under the shadow of your wings. Let Perpetual Light shine upon Margaret Mary McDonough.

 
Bob Coughlin / March 29, 2022

Another Poem for Margaret McDonough, Rest in Peace

 

(above, Margaret on the Spring Street Steps, Boal Street, Over-the-Rhine)

WAITING

Waiting.

Being present.

Is it called "being present" if you're not in the same room?

Presenté!  Our departed loved ones and heroines ~ 

Presenté!

To live in the now is to realize it's now.

My memories are now.

Fifty-six years compressed into now.

Roommates our Freshman Year

Maid of Honor

Stories from the Reservation

Godmother extraordinaire

Surviving the years of single motherhood because you visited after work.

Climbing Young Street stairs to watch Mr. Rogers & Sesame Street

With Daisy on the roof.

Trips in the Red Bug, three kids and a bloodhound in the back seat,

Old Man's Cave, Natural Bridge,

And the Saginaw Bookstore with a tomato on the shelf.

The Cottage, The Greenhouse, Ireland - now, now, now.

You told me once when I was grumpy,

"It doesn't matter if they delete you from history

Or mythologize you;  I was there.

I remember."  A simple echo of God's words,

"I know you. You are mine."

The IV pump is ticking

Voices down the hallway

Ashes on your forehead

Repositioning, med passes, a parade of medical teams 

Now

Quiet Breathing

Now

Healing

Now

God in and around us

Now.  Presenté!

[kp. for Margaret McDonough.  3/3/2022]

(above, Margaret in Ireland, circa 2000)

A Few Words on the Life of Margaret Mary McDonough

The poem above was written by my friend kp, who was one of Margaret McDonough's closest friends. There has been no official obituary for Margaret, but I'm going to try to piece together what I know about her life.

Margaret was from Bay City, Michigan, born around the time I was born, May 2nd, 1948. Margaret died in Cincinnati on March 21, 2022, a week ago. After a 6 week stay in the hospital, she was discharged to the skilled nursing unit at her retirement community.  Four days later she died peacefully.  Her brother Jack was with her when she died.  During the 6 weeks of hospitalization she had a team of friends, Debbie Boerschig, Sue Brungs, Charlene Riva, Liv Henson, and kp, advocating and caring for her as much as was permitted. Margaret was deeply loved, which was made perfectly clear during her final illness.

For a while I lived near Margaret, maybe a quarter mile away (for a time I was on Orchard Street and then on Lang Street in Over-the-Rhine, Cincinnati). Margaret lived on Boal Street near the Young Street steps, just up the street from my friends Henry Scott and Dan Bromley (they were at 324 Boal). She had many friends on Orchard Street and knew the folks in the Mansfield House Commune. We had many friends in common. I'm sure we were in the same place at the same time, but I don't remember meeting her.

Margaret attended the College of Mount Saint Joseph, like kp and Mary Jane Atkinson. Her resumé is a little crazy, like so many of my friends. She started her teaching career on the Lakota Sioux Reservation in Saint Francis, South Dakota, and later returning to Cincinnati she taught 4th and 5th grade at St. Henry’s in Northern Kentucky. After several years of teaching, she decided to change her career path.  She took classes in horticulture and worked for 17 years at Frank's Nurseries, becoming their first female store manager. In 1990, Margaret joined the UK Royal Horticulture Society and specialized in growing flowering sweetpeas, resurrecting a flower that had been popular in Cincinnati before World War II. From then until retirement, Margaret was a familiar face at Court St. and Findlay Markets, eventually selling rare plants and other flowers as well as her sweetpeas.  For a decade or more Margaret volunteered as a reading instructor for adult learners.

For a while Margaret lived near the Fernald Nuclear Plant--a place with a disguised name (Fernald Feed Materials Production Center) and a secret source of vast and dangerous radioactive pollution (it released millions of pounds of radioactive uranium dust into the air). Could this have been a contributing factor in Margaret's death?

Toward the end of her life, Margaret moved to a cottage connected to Twin Towers Senior Living Community in Cincinnati. She was greatly loved by her neighbors in this community.

In a Facebook post, an old friend of Margaret mentioned some of the things she fought for throughout her life: Native Americans, Women in Business, Hispanic Immigrants, Children, and Community Gardens. And in the end, a heroic fight for her own life.

Margaret is being laid to rest at the same time as her 98-year-old mother, Lorraine McDonough, at the St. Patrick's Catholic Cemetery in Bay City, Michigan. Mrs. McDonough died a couple weeks before Margaret's passing.

The Irish would say: "Margaret's likes will not be seen again." And "Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam dílis," May her sweet soul be at God's right hand.

Keep Margaret, Lord, like the apple of your eye. Shelter her under the shadow of your wings. Let Perpetual Light shine upon Margaret Mary McDonough. 

Bob Coughlin

Peacemaker Gathering at Memorial Picnic for Dorothy Glanzer

Yesterday at Mt. Echo Park in Cincinnati there was a gathering of old Peacemakers and friends of Dorothy Glanzer and Greg Haas. Dorothy died recently after suffering for years with MS. The gathering was a wonderful reunion of old friends, many of whom met back in the late 1960s or early 1970s in the Vietam-era peace movement. The peace movement is gaining steam again, in response to perpetual war.

Greg Haas

Alice Ann, Peggy, Mary Alice, Anne, Clare, me

Mansfield House photo from 1971 or 1972. Looks like a poster for the musical "Hair"! Ken Przybylski at far left, with Chris Cotter to his right. Also pictured, Carolyn Bromley, Greg Haas, Peggy Scherer, Anne Weinkam, Jack Shereda, John Luginbill, Joan Levy, Bonnie Tompkins, Denny Ryan, Mary Jane Atkinson, and two neighborhood boys

Me with Mary Alice Shepherd Milnes

Me with Peggy Scherer

With Jim Tarbell

Manuel, Alice Ann, Peggy, Mary Alice, Anne, Clare, me

A strange thing that often happens at wakes and memorial services is the joy that people have in seeing old friends. That certainly happened yesterday. The afternoon was filled with hugs and hilarious stories.

One woman approached me and asked me if I knew who she was. I recognized her right away, but her name didn't come to me. It turned out to be Debbie Boerschig, who had lived in my old apartment building--I think my own apartment on the third floor. Debbie is a nurse who began her career at 12th Street Clinic, where I worked from 1971 to 1973. We know many people in common from 12th Street Clinic and from our old neighborhood in Over-the-Rhine. There were other people at the gathering who had lived at 225 Orchard Street--Anne Weinkam and Clare Weinkam. Clare said she moved from the second floor to the fourth floor because the rent was cheaper the further up you went--from 48 dollars a month to $47.50 (or something like that). The rent was astonishingly cheap, and the building fairly well-maintained by our plumber-landlord, whose name I think was "Dougherty." I also saw Joyce [can't think of her last name--Hillstrom?] there--hadn't seen her since maybe the memorial services for Maurice McCrackin or Ernest Bromley. Joyce had lived in the Lang Street house in Over-the-Rhine (as had John Luginbill, Chris Cotter, and other friends). The rent there was $40 per month! Talking to Debbie I heard that one former resident of 225 Orchard had died--Mary "Bird" Bliss. I also learned that Rowena Toews, who had a short, unfortunate marriage to Richard Gale, had also died. So many of our old friends gone--Jack Shereda, Kenny Przybylski, Carolyn Bromley, Maurice McCrackin, Ernest and Marion Bromley, Chuck Matthei--so many.

We also talked about friends who didn't make it to the memorial: Chris Cotter, Henry Scott, Andy Meyer, Denny Ryan, Bonnie Tompkins, Richard Gale, John Luginbill, Joan Levy, and others. We missed them all.

Our prayers are with Greg Haas and his wife Dorothy Glanzer. Rest in Peace, Dorothy.